A review of the evidence into the effectiveness of acupuncture as a treatment for alleviating cancer symptoms suggest that it can help with pain, chemotherapy induced nausea, fatigue, vomiting, anxiety, hot flushes and numbness.Dr Xiaoshu Zhu, from the National Institute of Complementary Medicine at the University of Western Sydney noted in a presentation at the Clinical Oncology Society of Australia Annual Scientific Meeting in Melbourne this week that signals to the central nervous system activate neurological and hormonal responses in the brain as a result of the insertion of acupuncture needles.Dr Zhu is currently working with researchers at the South West Sydney Local Health District Cancer Services exploring evidenced based approaches with integration of complementary therapies in cancer survivorship.This is an area of practice that particularly interests me as I researched the effect of acupuncture on cancer-related fatigue as part of my academic studies. There is good evidence that acupuncture is effective at both managing cancer patients' symptoms of fatigue and improving their quality of life.